How do you tell your team about quality goals?

This is certainly one view of why they matter but there is a risk that this creates a finite mindset whereby the team chase short term goals rather than an overarching vision (or, as described by Simon Sinek, your Just Cause). That can create unintended consequences in the form of perverse behaviours. However, used as stepping stone milestones in recognition of how they help you progress your Just Cause can be very effective.

While SMART has a role to play, there's often a challenge in organisations in even understanding what quality is; and if you don't know that, then there's no point trying set quality goals. In its simplest form, quality is nothing more than defining what 'good' looks like for you. That is why SWOT, benchmarking, customer insight etc can be useful but, more importantly, it helps you define what 'good' means for your organisation or function and better aligns to organisational vision, strategy and business plans.

Communicating your quality goals is clearly important but there's an often overlooked stage before this, and that's of establishing clear quality controls. Reflecting the relevant aspects of the quality standards you initially establish, the introduction of relevant systems and processes are essential before you launch your communication plan. Implementing relevant activity and understanding upfront such as standard operating procedures, contract management practices, formal quality standards (e.g. ISOs), wider organisational policies and practices and so forth is key to set out the understanding by, and expectations of, staff in consistent, operational practice and its importance in delivering to the desired quality goals.

There is often a lack of understanding as to what quality assurance represents and how to use it to best effect. At its heart, it is a means of testing whether your quality goals are being achieved/exceeded and that the associated quality controls remain effective. If they're not where you want them to be, the assurance process enables you to identify associated deficiencies and create a remedial action plan to inform your continuous improvement priorities. Assurance activity should consider the concept of '3 lines of defence' where, for example, 1st line activity (e.g. KPIs, contract management, (non)functional requirements analytics review) sits within your immediate team; 2nd line uses internal audits; and 3rd line uses external audits.